Irish Pub / Rum Runners
A week after St. Patrick’s Day this year, The Irish Pub and Grill, 910 W. Saginaw St. on Lansing’s west side, closed for business. The owners had no comment, but the online auction announcement said it all. Up for bid: its Class C liquor license, a full commercial kitchen and “all equipment required to maintain the business,” which included tables, chairs and lights. Over the last four months, based on outward appearances, it seemed nothing was happening with the property; inside, however, it’s been a different story.

Saying goodbye to 'the grande dame of Lansing theater'

"A light has gone out in Lansing today," Dick MacLachlan told the crowd that packed Okemos Community Church Tuesday morning. He was memorializing his mother-in-law and longtime Lansing community theater actress, Winifred B. Olds, among friends, family and members from the Lansing theater community.

The joys and pains of running a nightclub in Lansing

Last week, Bar 30 closed after an underwhelming 10 months of business. Situated in the Heights at Eastwood, a still-under-construction lifestyle center north of Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing Township, the high concept entertainment/food venue had its challenges from the get-go — for starters, a touchy economy and a not-quite-ready-for prime-time location.

Lansing man spins his love of beer into part-time gig

Beer, as Homer Simpson famously toasted, is the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. Well, it was something close to that, at least. Either way, we're willing to bet he never thought of turning it into a sideline profession.

Persis / Capitol Scoop / Head Room Salon

Last week, Felix Campos, owner of the hair salon Barberrette's and the attached day spa, Coterie Purlieu, opened his third downtown business: Capitol City Scoop. The 1,250-square-foot ice cream store/micro-dairy fills in the slot previously occupied by RG Ballpark Dogs and Turkeyman.

English Inn's Croquet Cottages

The owners of The English Inn, 677 S. Michigan Road, Eaton Rapids, broke ground last Thursday on an expansion that will nearly double the overnight capacity for the historic restaurant/pub/bed and breakfast.

'Discount Dave' selling former Cadillac Club to Riverview Church

Inside the former Cadillac Club in REO Town, Dave Sheets' desk is wedged into one end of what used to be the bar. On what was once the dance floor, a leather sectional sits, festooned with a giant price tag. Couches, chairs, desks and dressers, also plastered with price tags, pack the rest of the 20,000-square-foot space.

Local photographer transforms women into pin-ups

Some say nostalgia in fashion trends runs on a 20-year cycle. Others put it at around 50. That would give modern-day wistfulness to anything from the flannel-and-combat boot grunge look of the '90s to the fastidiously groomed, impeccably decked-out "Mad Men"-era chic of the '60s. Not a lot of overlap there.